THE EMIRATI CONNECTION
CHAPTER 4
My first compulsion was to go back to wherever I came from. But where was I going to at that time of the night? Why would I allow a girl to deprive me from my home and my own quiet enjoyment? It made no sense to me. So, I summoned my courage and approached my door. When I saw her sitting on the verandah browsing, a sudden and strong anger came upon me. I couldn’t understand why she was behaving like that. I walked up to her and pulled her roughly.
“What are you doing here at this hour?” I asked, angrily.
“I was waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me for what? What kind of a thing is this? Are you stalking me?”
“Is it a crime for me to come and wait for my boyfriend at home?”
“Who is your boyfriend? I am not your boyfriend. Since when we became lovers.” I asked in anger.
The neighbours had heard the commotion. Those who were not yet sleeping came out of their houses and started watching and enjoying the spectacle. I felt embarrassed because since I got into that compound, no one had ever seen me involved in such a show.
“I am not your girlfriend? So, why were you accepting gifts from me? You accepted my money and my gifts. If you knew you didn’t want me, you shouldn’t have accepted those things.”
“So, this is what this is all about? Money? Look here my dear, I hate to sound like a Nollywood movie but, if your problem is the gifts and the meagre sum of money you sent to me while you were in Dubai, better sum up what you think I owe you and I will gladly pay.”
“I don’t want any money. You can’t refuse me after you made me leave Dubai, all the way to Cameroon just to be with you.”
“You and I had no such agreement. I told you expressly that I had a girlfriend. The only reason why I even kept chatting with you was because the girl too was beginning to behave funny. See, let me advise you. There are hundreds of other handsome and good-looking young men in this town. Go get one of them and stop bothering me.”
“But it’s you I want. It’s you I have chosen.”
“Chosen who? If my mind isn’t cheated by some spell, I can remember clearly that you came to me only after your other guys rejected you. Look, I don’t want trouble. Just leave me alone.”
All what I said was just a waste of time. She decided that she wasn’t going anywhere. She decided that if I didn’t let her in, she would sleep on my verandah until morning. What was I going to do? Sleeping on my verandah was very risky. My apartment was at the end of the building. After that, there was a small stream and after the stream were bushes. Many times we had seen snakes around that area. What if she got bitten by a snake? Or what if she was attacked by robbers as she slept on my verandah all alone in the middle of the night?
A thought occurred to me that I should allow her to spend the night and let her go in the morning. But I knew that would be a dangerous precedent. If I did that, she would repeat this same behaviour another day again in the hopes that I would allow her sleep over.
“Get out of my house now.” I shouted as I pulled her.
“I am going nowhere.” She retorted.
I pulled her violently and she fell on the ground. I tried to carry her up but she wouldn’t budge. I decided to drag her on the ground. As I did, her shoes and wig came out. Her body was now covered with dust but she refused to go. My neighbours were intently watching everything that was going on. No one wanted to intervene.
I stood in front of her and looked at her. What kind of love is this? I thought to myself. If this was the kind of love that my dad used to warn me about, then I am in trouble. How was I going to get rid of this girl? What have I gotten myself into?
“Please and please, go home. Go to your house so that I can sleep. It’s very late and I have to go to work tomorrow.” I begged in a calm tone but still she wouldn’t budge. Instead, still seating on the bare ground, she turned to me and spoke in a calm and sorrowful voice.
“Don’t I deserved to be loved? Am I not a woman, too?”
These words broke my heart into a thousand pieces. I looked at her and all I saw was a woman who desperately wanted to be loved, a woman who had given so much love but hadn’t received any in return, a woman who had so much love to give but hadn’t been able to meet someone who could reciprocate. I felt pity for her, so much pity. I moved close to her, gently pulled her up from the ground and spoke to her calmly.
“You deserved to be loved, my dear. You are a nice lady, humble and caring. You deserve a man who can give you love and shower you with affection. The problem is that I am not that man. My heart has been occupied by another woman. I am already in love. I wish I could love you like you want me to, but I can’t. I just can’t. Please, just home and we will talk about this another day, okay?”
My words softened her heart, and she started crying. She laid her head on my chest and shook with convulsive sobs. I petted and calmed her down until she stopped crying. She wore her sleepers, took her purse and arranged her wig.
“I am leaving. Goodbye and enjoy your love.” She spoke.
“It’s about 2:00 AM now. You can’t go home alone. I will walk with you and God willing, we might meet a late-night biker who will take you home.”
“No, I will go alone. I don’t want you to walk with me. I will be fine.” She said and started walking away.
I quickly dashed into my bedroom, put on my sweater (because it was getting colder outside) and followed her. After about thirty minutes, we found a lone bike and stopped it. I negotiated with the rider, and he agreed to carry us. First, he took both of us to her house just to make sure that she was safe. When we go to her compound, the bike rider and I waited until she got into her house before leaving.
It had been two months now and I had not seen or heard from her. Actually, she blocked me on Facebook, WhatsApp and on regular calls. I felt hurt to be blocked that way but I decided that it was actually better that way.
The following week, my girlfriend visited me and we had a fight. I had been wanting to see her parents so that I could begin doing the right things that could actually make her become my wife formally. She on the other hand, wasn’t prepared. In fact, she wasn’t serious. So, when I brought the matter up, we ended up fighting and she decided to leave earlier than she should have.
I thought of the irony of things. Here I was, being lusted after by someone I didn’t care about. On the other hand, my girlfriend whom I wanted to marry was making life difficult for me. I wanted to go see her parents and marry her officially, but she was stalling. When she left my house in anger and travelled back to the city where she lived, I tried to reach her to no avail. I was frustrated, very, very frustrated. The first thought that came to my mind was to contact Hermine. However, I thought of the show she put up that day at my house and changed my mind about her.
So, instead, I decided to contact another girl called Lindsey that I had met on Facebook. She had been wanting to visit me but I had turned down her proposals for the same reasons I was turning down Hermine. I didn’t want to complicate my life by having two girls at the same time. However, since my girlfriend wasn’t serious, I decided to contact her.
She came to my house one night and one thing led to the other and she ended on my bed. Actually, it started on my sofa and then became so hot that it moved to the bedroom. As I was taking her home after making love to her, she seemed to be in a cold and sullen mood. So, I decided to ask her what the matter was.
“What is happening to you?” I asked.
“I feel cheap.”
“Why?”
“I came to your house for the first time and we ended up having s*x.” She spoke.
“Oh! That’s the reason? Please, calm down. I don’t see you that way. Besides, we had known each other for long and we had been chatting for long. It’s just that we had never met in person. So, don’t feel bad, okay?”
“I will try. It’s just that it’s not normally my style. I am sure I got carried away because I hadn’t had s*x in a long while.”
“It’s alright, the fault is mine, too. I led you on, all thanks to your beauty.” I spoke and she laughed. “Good thing you laughed finally.”
“Go! You are a bad boy.”
Soon, we saw a cab. I stopped it and she got in. When the cab left, I turned around to walk back to my house and stopped in shock. Standing beside an ice-cream machine was, you guessed right, Hermine. She saw me as soon as I saw her. She smiled and moved towards me.
“OMG! Hermine. Been more than two months now. You look good.”
“You, too. So, how have you been? Married to your girlfriend now?”
“Hahahahaha, we aren’t married. How about you?”
“I am still very single.”
“You are not serious, are you?”
“I am.”
“So, you are saying that you haven’t had s*x these past two months?” I asked, in jest.
“Hahahahah, about that? I have had s*x but not with someone I love. I just wanted to calm down the pressure. I hadn’t met anyone since I came back to Dubai.” She confessed.
“How was it?” I asked.
“It was good but not as good as it would have been with you.”
“Why would it have been different with me?” I asked, curious. She had never had s*x with me and there was no way she would know how having s*x with me would feel like.
“Because I love you.”
I laughed nervously and then told her I was going. Everything would have ended that day if not for my mouth. If I had kept my mouth shut, nothing would have escalated. But I made a proposal that would put me in serious trouble in future. I proposed that we meet the following day, not in my house but in an off-license bar. She gladly accepted, we shook hands, and I went home.
TO BE CONTINUED…
